Dallas Cowboys Blog

Morris Claiborne: I played ‘pretty honest’ in my debut; Still ‘small things’ to improve on

IRVING – Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne said he expected to play every defensive snap in the season opener and he nearly did. The 22-year-old rookie played 54 of the 56 snaps in the Cowboys’ 24-17 win over the New York Giants.

Not only does that amount of plays give Claiborne some much needed NFL experience but it also provides a large amount of film for the sixth overall pick to study.

So how did he grade himself?

“I felt like I played pretty honest,” Claiborne said. “I feel like I played straight up. I know there’s some little small things that I need to work on, technique-wise. I know that we’ll get that fixed. Overall, I felt pretty good about it.”

Claiborne added: “I’m just trying to build from that game, just to try to make myself a better player and make us a better unit.”

The LSU product exited briefly in the second half to have his knee examined. He said Wednesday that the injury was nothing that would prevent him from playing.

The Cowboys must not be concerned either. After all, Claiborne was back returning kicks during the beginning of Thursday’s practice.

With the Giants game in the rear-view mirror, Claiborne has shifted his focus to watching tape of Seattle wide receivers like Braylon Edwards and Sidney Rice. Edwards and Rice combined to catch nine passes for 79 yards and a touchdown in a 20-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

“We’ve been watching film and we know that they’re a deep-ball threat,” Claiborne said. “They got the quarterback who can get the ball down the field. We just have to play honest. We can’t go for all the play fakes. We have to play top-down.”

Seattle rookie quarterback Russell Wilson targeted Rice and Edwards nine times each. His biggest pass play was a 27-yard completion to tight end Zach Miller.